SAFEchild’s Funny Tummy Feelings program presents important concepts to first graders, enabling them to recognize and protect themselves from physical or sexual abuse.

To reinforce the messages of Funny Tummy Feelings for your own family, please read this summary of the program with your children:

• Trust what your body is telling you about your funny tummy feelings (emotions);
• If someone tells you a secret, you get to decide whether or not to keep the secret;
• Your special adults can help you if you talk to them;
• You have a right to say no, even to a grown-up, if someone is asking you to do something that is harmful or makes you feel unpleasant.

The story below can be read with any child to help him or her begin to understand some of Funny Tummy Feelings’ lessons.

• If we listen very carefully, our funny tummy feelings will let us know how we should act when certain things happen to us. Some funny tummy feelings are pleasant and some are unpleasant, but all funny tummy feelings are our signals to be more aware of what is going on around us.
• We know that secrets can be good or not-so-good. If we have a pleasant funny tummy feeling about a secret, it is OK to keep the secret. If we get an unpleasant funny tummy feeling about a secret, we should talk to our special person – our support person – about that secret. It is OK not to keep a not-so-good secret.
• If someone asks us to do something that could be harmful to us or is wrong and we get an unpleasant funny tummy feeling, we have a right to say no, even if the person who asks us to do it is a grown-up. If the person does not listen to us, we have the right to talk to our special person about what is happening.

Please contact your school’s guidance counselor or Funny Tummy Feelings program coordinator Elizabeth Clark at eclark@safechildnc.org with any questions.

Find more information about our Funny Tummy Feelings program here.